Budget-Wise Makeover

Budget-Wise Makeover

Paint not only refreshes the walls of a room but can also do wonders for the surface below your feet. Don't over look the opportunities to jazz up plain flooring with colorful patterns. See 11 paint ideas and find downloadable templates for upgrading worn-out wood, boring concrete, stair treads, and more.

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Checkerboard Pattern on Wood

Checkerboard Pattern on Wood

If a limited budget doesn't allow for refinishing, try turning a worn-out wood floor into a warm cottage classic with a simple checkerboard pattern. - saboteamos.info senior technical editor Mark Powers used a little measuring and a couple of coats of durable floor paint to add a touch of personality to a room for a small price.

Broad Bands on Brick

Broad Bands on Brick

Give your brick porch or patio large stripes to add definition and make a small space seem larger. Start by softening the all-brick look by uniting the floor and walls with a base coat of gray-tinted exterior stain. Then add wide bands of stain in a contrasting color.

Hardwood Floor Medallion

Hardwood Floor Medallion

A painted framed medallion can enhance the beauty of your hardwood and ease the transition where two types of flooring meet. The trick is to add color to a floor without covering up the beautiful wood. This open cloverleaf design is one pro's solution.

Big-Block Basketweave on Concrete

Big-Block Basketweave on Concrete

Enhance a plain concrete floor in an outdoor room with an interwoven design that mimics the look of floor tiles. Here, an enlarged brick pattern was painted using charcoal-gray and a pale-gray-tinted concrete sealer. A diagonal orientation "stretches" the length of the room and contrasts with the organic shapes of the stones in the fireplace surround.

Colorful Outdoor Carpet

Colorful Outdoor Carpet

A real carpet may be impractical on a porch or sunroom floor, but you can still add a decorative touch with a permanent painted rug. Here, warm gray is the backdrop for a modern chain-link design filled with patches of pale orange, blue, and green.

Oversize Blossom Design

Oversize Blossom Design

Cover scratched porch floorboards with a large floral design. Use the planks as a built-in ruler to save time measuring. Here, a four-petal blossom template was coordinated with the width of six planks and an oval template with the width of two planks. Alternating the two patterns created the pattern.

Geometric Porch-Floor Pattern

Geometric Porch-Floor Pattern

A large-scale pattern, such as this octagon-and-diamond motif, works well in a narrow space. The trick to keeping the geometry crisp is outlining the shapes very carefully and using plenty of painter's tape.

Stenciled Pattern

Stenciled Pattern

Give a battered pine floor a makeover using primer, paint, and a stencil. Here, after the floor was sanded, a coat of primer went down, followed by three coats of glossy yellow porch-and-floor paint. Next, white paint and a small paintbrush were used to fill in the pattern. For final step, two coats of polyurethane were applied for scuff protection.

Painted Stair Runner

Painted Stair Runner

Let a lively pattern add new dimension to your daily climb up the stairs. This trick-of-the-eye runner, its pattern reminiscent of a patchwork quilt, gets its 3-D quality from the way it flows over the steps. The most difficult part is sectioning off each shape with painter's tape and allowing each color to dry before applying the next.

Six-Pointed Star Pattern

Six-Pointed Star Pattern

Transform old flooring with a smooth new finish, and use up leftover paint from other projects with a colorful hand-painted pattern. It's perfectly fine to use mix sheens, because you'll finish the project with polyurethane.

Budget-Wise Makeover

Paint not only refreshes the walls of a room but can also do wonders for the surface below your feet. Don't over look the opportunities to jazz up plain flooring with colorful patterns. See 11 paint ideas and find downloadable templates for upgrading worn-out wood, boring concrete, stair treads, and more.

Checkerboard Pattern on Wood

If a limited budget doesn't allow for refinishing, try turning a worn-out wood floor into a warm cottage classic with a simple checkerboard pattern. - saboteamos.info senior technical editor Mark Powers used a little measuring and a couple of coats of durable floor paint to add a touch of personality to a room for a small price.

Broad Bands on Brick

Give your brick porch or patio large stripes to add definition and make a small space seem larger. Start by softening the all-brick look by uniting the floor and walls with a base coat of gray-tinted exterior stain. Then add wide bands of stain in a contrasting color.

Hardwood Floor Medallion

A painted framed medallion can enhance the beauty of your hardwood and ease the transition where two types of flooring meet. The trick is to add color to a floor without covering up the beautiful wood. This open cloverleaf design is one pro's solution.

Big-Block Basketweave on Concrete

Enhance a plain concrete floor in an outdoor room with an interwoven design that mimics the look of floor tiles. Here, an enlarged brick pattern was painted using charcoal-gray and a pale-gray-tinted concrete sealer. A diagonal orientation "stretches" the length of the room and contrasts with the organic shapes of the stones in the fireplace surround.

Colorful Outdoor Carpet

A real carpet may be impractical on a porch or sunroom floor, but you can still add a decorative touch with a permanent painted rug. Here, warm gray is the backdrop for a modern chain-link design filled with patches of pale orange, blue, and green.

Oversize Blossom Design

Cover scratched porch floorboards with a large floral design. Use the planks as a built-in ruler to save time measuring. Here, a four-petal blossom template was coordinated with the width of six planks and an oval template with the width of two planks. Alternating the two patterns created the pattern.

Geometric Porch-Floor Pattern

A large-scale pattern, such as this octagon-and-diamond motif, works well in a narrow space. The trick to keeping the geometry crisp is outlining the shapes very carefully and using plenty of painter's tape.

Stenciled Pattern

Give a battered pine floor a makeover using primer, paint, and a stencil. Here, after the floor was sanded, a coat of primer went down, followed by three coats of glossy yellow porch-and-floor paint. Next, white paint and a small paintbrush were used to fill in the pattern. For final step, two coats of polyurethane were applied for scuff protection.

Painted Stair Runner

Let a lively pattern add new dimension to your daily climb up the stairs. This trick-of-the-eye runner, its pattern reminiscent of a patchwork quilt, gets its 3-D quality from the way it flows over the steps. The most difficult part is sectioning off each shape with painter's tape and allowing each color to dry before applying the next.

Six-Pointed Star Pattern

Transform old flooring with a smooth new finish, and use up leftover paint from other projects with a colorful hand-painted pattern. It's perfectly fine to use mix sheens, because you'll finish the project with polyurethane.